RELIGIOUS SATIRICAL POETRY: Bill Moyers / “The Poetry of Philip Appleman” / VIDEO

Bill talks with and invites readings by renowned poet, novelist, and editor Philip Appleman, whose creativity spans a long life filled with verse, fiction, philosophy, and religion. The author of nine books of poetry, three novels, and six volumes of non-fiction, Appleman’s most acclaimed work includes explorations of the life and theories of Charles Darwin. A scholar of Darwin, Appleman edited the critical anthology Darwin, and wrote the poetry books Darwin’s Ark and Darwin’s Bestiary, earning him praise for illuminating the “overwhelming sanity” of Darwin’s thought with clarity and wit. Appleman’s latest poetry collection is Perfidious Proverbs.

Watch video here . . .

COMMUNITY ACTIVISM: Bill Moyers / “How Citizen Power Can Save a Library”

In this web-exclusive Bill Moyers Essay, Bill professes his lifelong love for libraries and their strong cultural value, and points to a crisis in public library funding across the country. But he also shares a unique and controversial community effort in Troy, Michigan that kept its library from becoming a political casualty, and serves as “a reminder of what can happen when we act together.”

Watch the full video below that explains how the Tea Party put the library in jeopardy, and how the town — with the help ad agency Leo Burnett — successfully fought back.

BillMoyers.com

CORPORATE CAPITALISM: Bill Moyers / Jamie Dimon’s ‘Family Reunion’ With the Senate Banking Committee

In a preview of this weekend’s Moyers & Company, I talk with What’s the Matter With Kansas? author Thomas Frank about the friendly faces greeting Jamie Dimon when he appeared before the Senate Banking Committee this morning. Seven members of the committee were big recipients of money from the megabank.

Frank describes the revolving door of employment between government and corporate America, especially when it comes to Congressional staffers-turned-lobbyists.

“Staffers know they could drop what they’re doing and go work for a lobby firm and make fantastic money… They want to please these companies — even when they don’t work for those companies – because that’s their future employer and everybody knows it.”

Watch video here . . .

SOCIAL ACTIVISM: National Nurses United Director, RoseAnn DeMoro Talks Robin Hood Tax with Bill Moyers / (VIDEO)

Moyers & Company, a current affairs program featuring Bill Moyers and airing on PBS stations nationwide,  had a segment on Sunday evening with RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United, the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in the country, with 170,000 members.

The interview focuses on the union’s call for a Robin Hood Tax, a sales tax on Wall Street speculation that could raise up to $350 billion a year in revenue.

Watch interview here . . .

“The money generated,” says Moyers in the program note, “could be used for social programs and job creation – ultimately to people who, without a doubt, need it more than the banks do. Though the power and influence of Big Banking is intimidating, DeMoro and her organization have an inspiring history of defeating some of the toughest opponents in government and politics.”

The nurses see the enduring effects of economic hardship on patients and communities across the nation, says DeMoro. The revenue from the Robin Hood Tax is the first step to healing distressed communities and setting the United States on the road to a real recovery. More than 40 countries, including many of the fastest-growing economies, already have such a tax, and it may well be adopted European Union-wide this year.

Read more . . .

Bill Moyers: Interview / The Social Consequences of Inequality / Richard Wilkinson (TED Talk VIDEO)

“If Americans want to live the American dream they should go to Denmark.”
~ Richard Wilkinson

Richard Wilkinson is an epidemiologist and a leader in international research of inequality. He is also the co-author of The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger with Kate Pickett. Their book has been described by The Sunday Times of London as having “a big idea big enough to change political thinking. In half a page,” the Times says, “it tells you more about the pain of inequality than any play or novel could.”

His TED talk — “How economic inequality harms societies” — has garnered over 1 million views on the TED website since October 2011.

We caught up with him to talk about how inequality can be dangerous to our health.

Read interview, and watch TED talk video here . . .